It's Just a Job
by Thatoneloserkid
Summary: Beth Childs is a eighteen year old who has been brought up in amongst a large, high power gang. Her first big job is to enroll in the local high school and get close to millionaires daughter, Alison Hendrix. At first it just starts off as a job, get the girl to trust her then lure her back to her flat where two higher members of the gang will take her and hold her for ransom.
1. Chapter 1

"The plan is simple, Beth. You start at the school and get close with the girl."

"What happens after that?"

"You invite her back here and then we take her, her dad has more than enough money, there's no way her won't pay up."

Beth nodded, looking up at the man in front of her. "Ok,"

"But wait until she trusts you, ok? Don't just invite her over in a few days. Really get her to trust you so that if something goes wrong it's easier for you to convince her you were nothing to do with it."

"Ok, and is there any time limit to this?"

"No, boss knows this is a lengthy process, just don't drag it out, the last thing you want is for him to be mad at you."

"I know, Paul. Who is this girl, anyway?"

"Alison Hendrix." Paul handed Beth a small, rectangular picture. "Daughter of millionaire Michael Hendrix, he owes the boss money and had refused to pay up so now we make him."

"And what happens to the girl?" Beth asked distractedly, looking down at the photo of a girl who was dressed in all pink. So much pink.

"Well, you've seen what happens when they don't pay up, Beth."

"Yeah, no. I know, I just thought we would've went after the dad when that happened but whatever. When do I start?"

"You've been enrolled in the school and start tomorrow."

"Ok, and will you be here most of the time or?" Beth asked, indicating around the tiny, one bedroom apartment she had been put up in for this job.

"No, you have this place to yourself. You just call me when you're inviting her back here and we will be here waiting for you guys."

Beth nodded, running her hands through her hair and yawned.

"And if she doesn't want to be my friend?"

"Then we take her through brute force but that's a last resort." Paul answered. "Any more questions before I head out?"

Beth shook her head.

"Ok, prepaid phone. You use this and only this when contacting me and Alison, ok?" Paul insisted, raising his eyebrows as he threw the phone at Beth

"Yeah."

"Right, call me if you need anything."

"Will do." Beth agreed, falling back onto the sofa with a groan as Paul left the house.

Beth studied the picture in her hand. The girl was pretty, probably around seventeen or eighteen with long brown hair and bangs that covered her forehead.

If there was one thing Beth hated was stuck up, obnoxious rich kids so she just hoped Alison wasn't like that, she wasn't sure how long she would last if she is.

Beth sighed, throwing the picture onto her sofa and heaving herself up, walking over to the single bed that was pushed up against the wall with just a thin sheet over it. "Paradise." She murmured to herself as she fell down on top of the sheets and closed her eyes.

She had seen enough movies and tv shows to know that the new kid at school was never popular or was picked on. She wasn't to worried about the latter, she could no doubt kick anyone's ass who tried to embarrass or humiliate her but the whole people talking behind her back thing got her, she wasn't very good with that sort of thing.

Beth decided to go about things with the shy approach, which she would be more comfortable with anyway.

She stuffed her hand into the pocket of her zipper as she entered the school building, her backpack hanging off one shoulder and her motorcycle helmet clutched in her other hand.

Beth could feel everyone staring at her but she ignored them and turned left into the school office.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the desk smiled.

"I'm Elizabeth Childs, I just started today."

"Ah, ok." The woman nodded, reaching along her desk and picked up the small stack of papers that had a sticky note with 'Elizabeth Childs' scribbled on it. "This is your schedule, your locker number and combination, and a map of the school."

"Thank you." Beth smiled.

"Your locker is just down that hallway, the sixth row on your right."

Beth smiled politely, looking down at her schedule as she walked away. Chemistry first, science was always something she was good at when she went to school before everything went wrong. She still got tutored with this guy Paul had hired but only important stuff like math and English.

Beth easily found her locker, putting in the combination and pulled it open. She didn't know why she had gone to it, she didn't have anything to put in it yet other than her helmet but she figured it would be good to know where it is.

Beth heard a loud, booming laugh from down the hallway that made her push the door of her locker open a little more and look in the direction of the laugh. Her eyes landed on the very person she had been ordered to spend time with. Alison Hendrix. She was standing in front of what Beth assumed were her friends who was leaning back against the locker, Alison laughing carelessly at something her friend had said.

Beth had to take a moment because that picture Paul had given her did not do Alison justice at all. She was a lot prettier in person, her hair seemed a lot longer and her smile was just... Captivating.

Beth took a breath and stared into her locker for a second, readying herself before closing it and walking in the direction of Alison.

She put her hands in her pockets and bowed her head like she had done before, walking and 'accidentally' banging into Alison's back causing the other girl to drop her book, clearly startled.

"Shit, sorry." Beth apologized, lifting her head to look at Alison.

"Watch where you are going next time." The girl snapped, crouching down to pick up her books.

"Uh, let me help you." Beth tried to help her but the girl shook her head.

"Don't bother."

Beth was taken aback by the attitude, having not expected someone so pink to be so bitter. "Fine. Jeez."

Beth turned on her heels and walked back to her locker, intent on taking the map of the school back out since there was no chance of Alison showing her around.

The bell rung just as she reached her locker but Beth wasn't worried, if she could be late any day it was today. She opened her locker, pulling out the map before closing it, jumping when her eyes landed on Alison. "Fucking hell."

"Charming." Alison muttered deadpan.

"Well, what do you expect with you sneaking up on me."

"I didn't sneak up on you." Alison grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry. For back there."

"No you're not." Beth disagreed, grinning slightly as she leant her shoulder against the locker.

"No. No, I'm not. You should really watch where you are going." Alison agreed, her lip curving up into a smile as her hand came up to touch her cheek.

"Well, it got your attention so, so far, I'm thinking me banging into you isn't such a bad thing." Beth raised her eyebrows, biting her lip flirtatiously, only just managing to keep a grin off her lips when Alison's eyes dropped down her mouth.

Bingo. That gave her everything she needed to know how she was going to play this thing.

"We're late.

"We are. I have chemistry, don't really know my way around this place, though." Beth mumbled, looking down at her schedule with a frown.

"Senior chemistry?" Alison asked, peering over to look at Beth schedule.

"Yeah."

"I can show you." Alison offered taking Beth completely by surprise, hadn't it been less than five minutes ago Alison was snapping at her?

"Uh, you don't have to, I'm sure I'll find it eventually."

"I'm going there anyway, I don't mind." Alison smiled, nodding down at Beth's schedule. "Can I see it?"

"Yeah, sure." Beth turned her schedule towards Alison.

"You're in everyone of my classes." Alison murmured, looking up at Beth through her eyelashes.

Beth smiled, raising her eyebrows in mock surprise though she knew that that probably wasn't a coincidence at all. "No way."

"Mm." Alison hummed, smiling up at Beth with a coy smile. "Looks like you're stuck with me all day."

"Lucky me." Beth replied flirtatiously, her eyebrow raising slightly as the corner of her mouth tipped up.

Alison sucked we bottom lip into her mouth to try and hide her smile, holding the schedule back.

"So, who were your friends?" Beth asked as they began walking to class.

"Those girls weren't really my friends, they are daughters of my dad's friends. I sit with my real friends at lunch, down in the science labs."

"Oh." Beth muttered, not entirely sure what that meant. "And what's your name?"

Alison looked a little taken aback at first but recovered quickly. "You don't know who I am?"

"Should I?" Beth cocked her head to the side and frowned lightly.

"No, I- I'm Alison. Alison Hendrix."

"Alison?" Lauren asked, trying not to sound conspicuous, like she already knew the girls name.

"Yeah. What's your name?"

"I'm Elizabeth Childs. But you can call me Beth."

"Well, Beth Childs, chemistry is just in here." Alison smiled at Beth, gripping onto the strap of her bag as stopped outside the class that, thankfully, the teacher hadn't arrived at yet

Beth watched her for a couple of seconds, allowing her eyes to slip down Alison's body before rushing to catch up with the girl. "So, Alison, why did you sound so shocked when I didn't know who you were?" Beth asked.

"It's just- Everyone around here knows who I am." Alison shrugged, sitting down in her seat in the front row.

Beth arched her eyebrows playfully, resting her fists on the table top. "Well, someone needs to get their ego in check, huh?"

"You must be Miss Childs?" Beth glanced up at the teacher who had just entered and nodded. "I'm Mr Russell. If you want to take a seat just at that table there I will get you a text book."

Beth moved to the table in the second row, dropping her bag under the desk and falling down into her seat.

"So, you're new?"

Beth looked over at the boy sitting next to her, rolling her eyes lazily. "Well, have you seen me around here before?"

"N-no, but maybe..."

"Maybe nothing. It's a small school, you would've seen me around before." Beth shot back, she wasn't here to make friends, especially not one who was shamelessly staring at her chest. "You keep staring at my chest and I'll put you on a hospital food diet, clear?"

"I-I wasn't..."

"Here's your textbook, Elizabeth. We are on chapter three so you haven't missed much."

Beth nodded, smiling up at the teacher as he turned to walk away. Beth's eyes fell to the textbook as she tried to find the chapter before looking up, her eyes landing on Alison who was in the front row and a few desks over from where Beth was. She had one leg crossed over the other, her foot bouncing along to whatever song was in her head as she chewed absentmindedly down on her pen.

Beth probably should of looked away when Alison's head slowly began to turned, her eyes not moving from the teacher until the very last moment but Beth knew how she we going to play this now. What better mode of trust is there than love? She was going to get Alison Hendrix to fall in love with her.

Alison drew her eyes away from the teacher to look at Beth over her shoulder, her smiling just barely visible.

Beth lower her head to look at Alison through her eyelashes, a slow grin spreading across her face.

Alison bit down on the top of her pencil, grinning back at Beth before turning back to face the front.

Beth spent the remainder of the class staring at Alison, she didn't need to listen, she knew most of this stuff already. When the bell eventually rang Beth jumped to her feet, planning on leaving to call Paul but Alison grabbed onto her wrist.

"Beth."

Beth grinned to herself, forcing it off her face as she spun around. "Hey, Alison."

"Do you need me to show you to your next class?" Alison tilted her head to the side, lightly chewing in her bottom lip.

"You don't have to, I could probably find it fine, I don't want to bother you."

"No," Alison insisted a little to eagerly. "No, I don't mind. I mean, we are in all the same classes, anyway."

"Ok, then lead the way, tour guide." Beth said, walking slowly by Alison. "So, what's with the 'they are not my friends just daddies friends daughters'? You guys seemed friendly."

"Were you watching us?"

"You." Beth corrected, holding onto the strap on her backpack. "I was watching you, not them."

Alison grinned at that, her fingertips brushing against her own cheek as she cast her eyes down to the floor. "I feel like they're are just spies for my dad, you know?"

"No. Not at all."

"It's like, everything I tell them gets back to him. And I need to be the perfect little daughter for daddy." Alison spat bitterly.

"Well, you seem perfect from where I'm standing, what's different from him point of view."

"A lot of things." Alison said, glancing up at Beth who lightly shrugged.

"It's always the pretty pink ones that have the big secrets." Beth said, making sure to catch Alison's eyes before continuing. "But they also tend to be the most fun."

Alison bit down on her lip to contain her smile, looking at her feet as they entered the classroom. "You can sit next to me if you want. My ex used to sit there but he moved when we broke up."

"Why did you guys break up?" Beth asked, throwing her bag under the table and sat down, her eyes watching Alison as she took a seat beside her.

"He was a rich jackass with to much money and an ego to matching." Alison shrugged, opening her books and looking up at the door just as a group of three boys entered.

"That him?" Beth asked, noticing the way Alison's face dropped.

"Yeah, the one in the middle."

"And why does he look so mad at you?"

"I dumped him. Without much of an explication, really."

"Was there a reason?" Beth asked.

"Yeah."

Beth eyed Alison but it was obvious by the fact that she wouldn't meet her eye that that was as much as she wanted to say.

"Ok. Why is he trying to eyeball me?"

"He probably thinks you're hitting on me."

"Then let's make the little punk jealous." Beth grinned, sliding her arm across the back of Alison chair and leaned over to whisper into her ear. "Just go with it, ok?"

Alison nodded, though Beth could tell that everything in Alison's body was telling her to pull back.

"Ok, laugh like I said something funny."

"How about you say something funny? You gotta work for this, Childs."

"Seriously?" Beth pulled back a little to look Alison in the eyes before sighing. "Fine. Did you hear about the Italian man who died? Yeah, he pasta way."

"Fuck you," Alison laughed, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head.

"What? That was a good one!"

"I should hit you. The police would understand."

"You laughed and as far as I'm concerned, that's one to me." Beth grinned lopsidedly, "You have a cute laugh."

"I laughed because I felt sorry for you."

Beth shrugged, pushing a strand of hair behind Alison's ear that had fell loose when she laughed. "A pity laugh is still a laugh."

Alison smiled, turning her head to look Beth in the eye. "You obviously don't have people laugh at your jokes often."

"Oh, I didn't tell you, I'm a stand up comedian."

"The people obviously clap when you get off the stage."

"Ouch."

"Miss Childs, yes?" Beth lifted her head to look at the woman standing in front of her desk.

"Yeah."

"I'm Miss Henderson, here is your spanish textbook. Now, if you can stop hanging all over miss Hendrix and allow me to get on with my lesson that would be great."

Beth reluctantly drew her arm from the back of Alison's chair, moving to face the front of the class and smiled sweetly up at the teacher. "Fire away, miss."

"You're trouble, aren't you?" Alison murmured, looking at Beth from the side of her eye.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Beth shot Alison a grin before opening her textbook at the page the teacher had written up on the board.


	2. Chapter 2

Beth rushed down the empty hallway to her locker when the lunch bell rang, slipping her phone out of her pocket and called Paul.

"Hello?" Paul grumbled, her voice heavy with sleep.

"Were you asleep?"

"Mm."

"You told me to call you."

"I know. Did you find her?"

"Yes, I found her."

"And how is it going?"

"Good yeah, we..." Beth trailed off when Alison leant against the locker next to hers. "I've gotta go, ok? I'll call you tonight." Beth hung up and slid it into her back pocket.

"Boyfriend?"

"Husband." Beth answered with a playful grin, closing her locker and leaning her shoulder against it. "I'm getting the feeling you're stalking me."

"Stalking. Watching closely." Alison waved her hand dismissively.

"Looks like you have a stalker of your own." Beth nodded over Alison's shoulder making the younger girl turn around, rolling her eyes when she spotted Donnie. "I'm sorry but the guy is weird."

"Yeah, I can't believe I dated him for so long." Alison scrunched her nose up in disgust, turning back to Brth. "You want to have lunch with me? Us, I mean. Delphine, Cosima and I."

"Won't your rich friends be mad that you are hang out with me?"

"Yeah. But they won't know. What do you say?"

"You know, I would but I think I'm going to go out for lunch. I'm going to meet a friend." And she was. The only friend she had that wasn't part of the gang.

"Oh." Beth wasn't quiet sure but she thought she heard disappointment in Alison's voice.

"Another time though, yeah?" Beth found herself saying when she noticed the dejected look on Alison's face.

"Yeah, ok." Alison nodded, walking backwards away from Beth. "See you in class."

Beth bobbed her head, biting down on her bottom lip. "Ok."

Alison smiled, nodding once before spinning on her heels and strutting down the almost empty hallway with confidence that only an important mans daughter could posses.

Beth didn't take her eyes off Alison, which she thought was probably Alison's intentions judging by the was she was swaying her hips as she went, until the girl turned the corner and out of Beth's sight.

"Wow." Beth murmured, smiling as she shook her head. She took her helmet out of her locker before closing it and turned to leave, almost crashing into a group of what she assumed was football players, judging by the purple and black letterman jackets they were sporting. "Watch it, knuckleheads." She growled, shoving her way through the group of boys, rolling her eyes at the childish whistling and laughing.

Beth headed out to the parking lot, throwing one leg over her bike and pulling her hair over her left shoulder, pulling on her helmet.

It didn't take her long to get to the diner she had planned to meet her friend at.

"Wow, you are only ten minutes late." Sarah murmured sarcastically when Beth fell into the booth across from her, throwing her helmet and bag onto the bench, and sliding off her leather jacket.

"Well, I'm sorry. I was at school."

"School?" Sarah laughed but it dissolved into a frown when she saw the serious look on Beth's face. "Oh, shit, you're serious."

"Mm." Beth hummed, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her cheek on her fist. "It's for a job."

"Oh, and here was me thinkin' your were tryna broaden your mind." Sarah grins around the straw in her mouth. "What'd they got you doin'?"

"Just getting close to this girl." Beth sighed, running her hand through her hair, tossing it over one shoulder and looking up at Sarah.

"Why do you even do this? It's obvious you don't wanna to be doin' it."

"It's not that easy, you know that. It's not like quitting any other job." Beth murmured, distracting herself with the menu in front of her, which wasn't fooling Sarah in the slightest, Beth could probably name everything on that menu _and_ their prices. "Besides, boss has been nothing but great to me since her took me in."

"That doesn't give'm the right to treat you how he does."

"He treats me fine. I have everything I ever need."

Sarah held Beth's gaze for a few seconds before sighing, she was getting sick and tired of having this argument with Beth.

"Beth," Sarah started, leaning across the table to get closer to her best friend. "As much as you don't like to think so, you're a criminal. I'm hardly the pinnacle of society but what you guys do, Beth..."

"I _know_, Sarah!" Beth hissed, slamming the menu down on the table.

"Usual, girls?" Both Sarah and Beth pulled their eyes away from each other to look up at the waitress who was staring down at them, her eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Yeah. Thank you, Heather." Beth gave the old woman a polite smile that dropped from her lips as soon as the woman left, her eyespot back to Sarah. "Just drop it, Sarah."

"Fine. But with a face like yours you wouldn't do well in jail."

Beth rolled her eyes, her lip hooking up into a smile as she fell back against the back of the seat with a huff. "Fuck you."

Sarah grinned, leaning back and chewing on the skin around her thumb nail. "So, what's the girl like?"

"Daughter of a millionaire." Beth shrugged nonchalantly, trying not to show that she was actually a little bit fascinated by this girl.

"For real?"

"Yeah. Hendrix. Apparently he's some sort of 'well respected software developer' who has been carrying drugs and disguising it with his business. It's some breaking bad shit. He owes boss money, a lot, judging by the action he's taking."

"Do I wanna know?"

"Probably not." Beth shook her head lightly, picking up a fry when their food was placed down in front of them and began chewing on it. "Plausible deniability."

Sarah nodded, taking a rather unladylike bite out if her burger. "Just don't get yourself thrown in jail or killed or some shit."

"You say this to me every time and I tell you every time that I won't." Beth grumbled, digging into the pocket of her black skinny jeans and pulling put a key, holding it up between her thumb and forefingers before sliding it across the table. "Key to the new loft."

"Why do they make you change places every time?" Sarah asked, taking the key and sliding it into her jacket pocket.

"Incase anyone from the previous job followed me there. Safety and shit."

"Safely and shit." Sarah repeated with a sigh, shaking her head. "Have you spoke to her yet?"

"Yeah, we get along good." Beth grinned proudly. "I've got some moves, Manning."

"Yeah, right. She must just be feelin' sorry for ya."

"She asked me to sit with her and her friends at lunch."

"And what did you do to get her attention?"

"Banged into her."

"Oh, my god." Sarah laughed, covering her face with her hands. "Man, you have no moves _at. All_, Childs."

"Say what you want but it worked, ok? It will be a piece of cake getting her to fall in love with me."

Sarah's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You're gonna make her fall in love with ya?"

"Yeah. I mean, I have to get her to trust me and what better mode of trust is there than love?"

"Yeah, no, sure." Sarah agreed, nodding as she lifted her hand towards Beth. "But ain't that dangerous? What if you end up falling in love with her?"

Beth chuckled and shook her head. "As if, man. I know this is just a job."

"Ok, whatever you say."

"I'm serious. I'm not an idiot."

"I'd beg to differ." Sarah grinned, ducking away from the fry Beth threw at her. "What's school like, anyway?"

"Shit. It's full of meathead in lettermans and I know all the shit they're teaching so it's not like I'm learning."

"Sounds shit." Sarah agreed, finishing her food and throwing money on the table. "I gotta go, I start my job today."

"Job? What job?"

"Down at the garage. Learning how to fix cars and shit." Sarah stood up from the booth, Beth following her.

"What time do you finish?" Beth asked once they reached her bike, throwing one leg over the vehicle and looking up at Sarah.

"Seven." Sarah leant her hands against the handlebars of Beth's bike as the younger girl pulled on her jacket. "I'll bring pizza home, yeah?"

"Yeah." Beth agreed, pulling on her helmet before starting her bike. "Now, get out of my way, I'm late."

"Just be careful, ok?"

"I will be, Sarah."

Sarah nodded, slapping the side of Beth's helmet. "Right. See ya later, loser."

Beth pulled out of the parking spot when Sarah moved aside, sticking her foot out to kick the girl before setting off towards the school.

She ran into the school when she reached it, not bothering taking the detour to dump her helmet and ran to the section of the school she knew English was, stumbling rather clumsily through the door of the classroom.

The teacher at the front stopped talking and all of the students stopped taking note, lifting their heads to look at her.

Beth eyes accidentally, or at least that's what she tells herself, land on Alison who was sitting in the second row, eyebrows raised and her lips pushed into a stern line.

Ok, uptight Alison is back.

"Sorry I'm late."

"I will let you off just this once, since you are new." The woman says, pushing her glasses up her nose and grabbing one of the copies of 'of mice and men' and handed it Beth. "Take a seat, we are on chapter three."

Beth nodded, taking the book from the teacher and moved to the old free seat in the class, third row, beside a girl was ridiculously good hair. She threw her bag under the table, setting her helmet on top before sliding into her seat.

"Hello," Beth turned her head to look at the girl beside her, smiling polite.

"Hey,"

"I am Delphine."

"Beth,"

The girl, French girl, judging by the accent, smiled and turned her eyes back to the book.

Beth didn't bother looking down at the book, she had read it in her own time, she knew what went on in the book. Instead her leant her cheek on her fist and let her eyes wander over to Alison who was sitting up poker straight, her hands clasped on the desk as she listened. She was so uptight and tense compared to earlier and Beth had an idea as to why.

One of Alison's rich 'friends' from this morning was sitting next to her.

Beth was beginning to realize that there was two sides to this girl. The uptight rich girl and the Alison she got to meet.

A smile etched itself across Beth's lips when Alison turned her head to look at her but, unlike this morning, Alison didn't smile back. Instead, her eyes moved to someone a few rows behind Beth before turning back to the front.

Beth followed to where Alison's eyes had previously been, landing on one of her rich friends who had, what Beth assumed was supposed to be, a intimidating look on her face.

Beth rolled her eyes, making sure the girl saw, and averted her eyes back to the front. Maybe getting Alison to fall in love with her wouldn't be as easily as she'd originally thought, not with guard dogs like these for friends.

English seemed to drag by once Beth resigned herself to _not_ watching Alison. The girl beside her, Delphine, said a pleasant goodbye to her as they left the classroom and Beth followed a few steps behind Alison to find her next class.

"Miss Childs, take a seat up the back beside Cosima." The teacher announced when she entered, like she actually knew who Cosima was.

Beth's eyes scanned the classroom, landing on a girl in the back right corner with her hand up awkwardly.

"Motorbike?" Cosima asked when Beth sat her helmet on the desk.

"Yeah. Versys six-fifty ABS."

"Oh, cool!" Cosima said, giving Beth the impression that she knew exactly what model that was.

"You know about bikes?"

"I know about a lot of things." The girl replied and Beth could feel herself liking this one already. "My motorbike knowledge is mediocre, at best, though."

"You know makes and models, that's pretty cool."

Cosima just shrugged nonchalantly.

Beth moved her helmet onto the floor as the teacher handed her a textbook.

"So, are you the girl Alison was talking about?" Cosima asked, trying to seem offhandedly about it as she opened her book.

"I... Don't know?"

"She just mentioned a new girl called Beth. Said her jokes sucked and that she was trouble." Cosima said, her eyebrows raised as she looked up at Beth. "I'm not sure about the last part but you're the only new girl called Beth that I know of."

"I thought my joke was decent."

Cosima let out a small chuckled and nodded. "I'm sure it was, man."

"So, what's with Alison?" Beth's eyes wandered to the bored looking girl in the front row.

"What's _with_ her?"

"Yeah, she's like two different people. Complete one-eighty personality change."

"Oh. Yeah, Alison's pretty... Complex."

"Complex?" Beth raised her eyebrows, looking back at Cosima.

"Yeah. I can't tell you much, it's not my place, but Alison has a lot of shit on her shoulders, a lot of pressure to be this perfect human being, perfect daughter. You know who her parents are, right?"

Beth shook her head, and that was hardly a lie, she didn't know who they were, not really. "She did seem shocked that I didn't know who she was, though."

"Her dad is a millionaire."

"Then why does she go to public school, I would've thought the daughter of a millionaire would have went to private school."

"Right? I've asked her the same thing and she just says she doesn't wanna go to pretentious private school." Cosima shrugged, "Complex." She added just as the teacher began her class, quickly whispering, "She seemed to like you, though," before settling down to listen to the man at the front of the class.


	3. Chapter 3

Beth's last teacher of the day, her math teacher, held her back for a good fifteen minutes because she wanted to see just where Beth was with math. Luckily, math was one of the few subjects Beth was good at.

Once the woman had finished speaking to her Beth headed out of the room, just managing to dodge out of the way before a rushing wall of pink hit into her. Beth turned to face Alison who has slid to a stop and spun around to face Beth. "Late to something, Hendrix?"

"An hour early, actually." Alison shrugged, continuing when Beth raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Theater."

"Oh. And what are you guys practicing?"

"The winter play."

"Huh. Well, let me know when that is and I'll definitely buy a ticket."

Alison looked mildly surprised, "You like theater?"

"No," Beth shook her head, leaning her shoulder against the wall and grinning over at Alison. "But I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to watch you for however long plays last."

Alison glanced over her shoulder to where Beth assumed the auditorium was, obviously worried that one of her so called friends would hear them.

"Let's get out of here." Beth suggested.

"Weren't you listening. I have theater in an hour."

"And I'll have you back in time." Beth assured, smiling sweetly at Alison. "Come on, a milkshake on me, yeah? It will give you more energy to do your thing on that stage."

Alison looked back over her shoulder again, obviously in two minds about what she should do. "My friends are…"

"Forget them." Beth mumbled softly, moving to take a step towards Alison. "You don't wanna be around them, I've known you less than twelve hours and I know that. Just this once, do what _you_ actually want to do."

"And you will have me back for half five?"

"Yeah, for sure." Beth agreed, holding out her helmet to Alison.

"No, I'm not going on that thing." Alison shook her head vigorously, glaring down at the helmet that was being held out to her.

"I will get you a pink one some other time, this is the only one I have." Beth shoot back, grinning cheekily at Alison.

"That's not what it is. Those things are dangerous, I'm not getting on the back."

"Fine. Way to be a wet duvet." Beth huffed, clipping the helmet onto the straps of her bag.

"Blanket."

"Who?" Beth asked, distracted with trying to joint the clips around the jaw of the helmet.

"No," Alison sighed, rolling her eyes as she brought her hand up to touch her face, her fingertip just grazing her own jaw. "A wet blanket. Not duvet."

"Oh." Beth frowned but shook her head lightly after a few seconds. "Whatever, man. We can walk, it's just five minutes down the road."

Alison still looked unsure, glaring over at Beth who poked her bottom lip out in a pout. "Fine."

A grin stretched across Beth's face before she was even conscious enough if it to stop it. "Awesome. Let's go."

Beth spins on her heels and begins strutting down a hallway she wasn't exactly familiar with yet.

"Why did you move here half way through the year? Did you get kicked out of your previous high school?"

"I'm offended that you would assume such a thing." Beth huffed, trying to sound offended but Alison didn't buy it and just raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Maybe it's true but I'm still offended that you automatically went to that."

"What did you do?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't really my fault?" Beth stuffed her hands into the pocket of her jacket, looking at Alison from the corner of her eye.

Alison eyes Beth for a few seconds before nodding. "You know what? Yeah, I would."

Beth smiled at this, at the fact that Alison had faith, if extremely misguided, in her.

"What actually happened?"

"A football player wouldn't take no for an answer." Beth answered and she wasn't lying, that was the reason she was expelled from her last school and was the reason she ended up being home schooled.

"Right, and how does that warrant your expulsion?" Alison frowned.

"I broke two of his fingers." Beth said, sounding somewhat proud of herself.

"You- what did he do?"

"Like I said, he wouldn't take no for an answer." Beth shrugged.

"Right. What happened to him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, did he get any form of punishment for trying to force himself on you?"

"No. He was the victim who ended up with the broken fingers because he was just 'trying to show affection for a girl', it was bullshit." Beth drawled, opening up the door to the diner, holding it open for Alison to walk in.

"I never knew this place was here."

"Back again, Beth?"

Beth smiled at the woman as she took a seat in one of the booths. "Just can't seem to stay away." Beth quipped smoothly.

The woman smiled and rolled her eyes. "What can I get you girls?"

"Two of your special milkshakes, please, Susan."

"Right you are. I'll get those right out."

Beth nodded, smiling at the woman before she left, clasping her hands together on the table.

"You bite your nails."

"Hm?" Beth hummed, lifting her eyes to look at Alison before following her eye line down to her hands. "Oh, right. Yeah." Beth held up held hands, setting them back down on the table and looking over at Alison.

"Why?"

Beth merely shrugged at that question because she wasn't sure _why._ She had never really thought about it, it was just something she has done since she can remember. Though, she thought it was, maybe, because boss done it and she spend all of her time with him, from when she was seven until she was sixteen when he started letting her out on her own.

Beth was jerked out of her daydream when Alison reached across the table, picking up Beth's left hand and leaning closer to examine her nails. "It's really bad for your nails, you know?"

"Yeah, because I'm cannibalizing myself." Beth teased, grinning over at Alison. "A few girls said they wouldn't date me or would stop dating me if I didn't stop."

Alison looked completely shocked at that, probably the fact Beth said girls and not that they wouldn't date her because of it. Beth waiting, expecting Alison to just up and leave, judging by her reaction but after a few seconds Alison relaxed slightly, shaking her head a little.

"That's ridiculous." Alison muttered, running the pad of her thumb across the rough edge of the nail on Beth's pointer finger.

"Here you go girls."

Beth pulled her hand back when there was two tall, thin glasses placed in front of them.

Alison looked a little astonished at the milkshakes. Both glasses were filled with a pinkish liquid with a thick lair of whipped cream on top. Scattered on top on the whipped cream was colorful sprinkles, chocolate shavings, little gummy bears, some of which had no doubt sunk into the shake, and to finish it off there was a twizzler protruding out of the glass

"Are you kidding?" Alison looked at Beth over the top of her glass.

Beth just grinned and shook her head, picking out on of the gummy bears from the cream and popping it in her mouth.

"Take a sip. It's nice, could potentially induce a diabetic coma, even in people who aren't diabetic, but nice." Beth assured, pulling the twizzler out and quickly caught the dripping end in between her lips.

Alison gave Beth a skeptical look as she leant forward and took the straw in between her lips and took a drink. Her eyes widened when the liquid hit her tongue, partly because how just how sweet it was but also because it teased _good_.

"Right?" Beth grinned, taking a sip out of her own milkshake.

"This is probably all of my calories for the week but it's so _good_."

"You look great, you don't need to worry about that." Beth said offhandedly, picking up some cream with her finger, lifting her eyes to look at Alison and smiled when she noticed the girl was looking at her with a little frown on her face. "What?"

"Nothing." Alison shook her head, dropping her eyes to the glass in front of her.

"Tell me about yourself?"

Alison raised her eyes questioningly at Beth as she chewed on a gummy bear. "What kind of stuff?"

"All the generic shit, favorite book, film, class? All the heavy stuff comes a little later in the friendship."

"Ok," Alison agreed, shuffling in her seat to get more comfortable. "My favorite book is pride and prejudice, film is Chicago and class is drama."

"Absolutely none of that surprised me," Beth teased with a grin, resting her chin in her hand.

"What are yours?"

"My favorite book is the shinning by Stephen King. My favorite film is psych, the Alfred Hitchcock one, and my favorite class is math."

"Math? Really?"

"Mm. I'm good with numbers."

"Lucky you," Alison sighed. "I'm so close to failing math and if I do I will either have to go to summer school or repeat senior year. And I don't want to do either."

"Why don't you ask your friends for help? I spoke to Cosima today, she seems pretty smart."

"She is, certified genius, actually, but she has all her own stuff going on, between studying and spending time with her girlfriend she doesn't have any free time."

"Who is she date?"

"Delphine."

"They're together? That's cute." Beth mumbled, more to herself than Alison. "How about I tutor you?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"I don't mind. Besides, we don't want you failing senior year, I know it's supposed to be the best high school year but I reckon it would be boring the second time."

"Are you sure? I can get my parents to hire me one."

"But those ones are always really pretentious."

"Are you sure?" Alison repeated. "I can totally pay you."

Beth tutted and shook her head. "Just feed me wherever we're studying and we're square."

A smile forms on Alison's lips as she nodded. "Deal."

"Where do you wanna do it? And when?"

"We could do it at my house if you want to?" Alison suggested and Beth's mouth tipped up into a half grin that she tried her hardest to hold back. Alison obviously saw it, rolling her eyes at how immature Beth was being. "Mature."

"I can't remember ever saying I was." Beth quipped.

Beth expected Alison to roll her eyes, and she did but there was a smile tugging on the corner of her lips that she covered up with her hand.

"I was kidding, though. We can go to yours."

"Thursdays and Saturdays are the only days I'm free." Alison stated, her fingertips moving to ghost across her own cheek.

"Well, someone's a busy bee."

"My parents are busy bees I just get dragged along."

"What do they do?"

"It's mostly just stuff at work, meeting that they want me to sit through so I know the in and outs of the business. They want me to take over when I'm old enough."

"What do they even do?" Beth asked, sliding her milkshake to the side and leaning her elbows on the table.

"Software development." Alison intoned.

"You don't sound very enthusiastic."

"I am. Kind of." Alison huffed when Beth raised her eyebrows questioningly. "It's great having a job there, you know? Have that kind of security."

"But?"

"But that's not what I want to do with my life. I don't care about computers, I don't even use mind."

"Then don't do it." Beth said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You don't wanna be stuck in a job you hate for the rest of your life. That would suck."

"I wouldn't even have to do any work, do you know that? I would just sit in an office and have, what my dad calls, geek monkeys do all of my work." Alison ranted, holding the hand that had been on her face out as if to say 'you know what I mean'. "I don't want to do that. I don't want to live off my dad's money, I want to work for everything I own."

Beth could feel a smile pulling on her lips at the girls rant and Alison blushed when she realized what she had said.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to dump all that on you. I mean I don't even know you, not really and I'm just telling you all this. I..."

"Hey." Beth interrupted, give Alison a calming smile. "Calm down, it's ok. I don't mind."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. What do you wanna do when you're older?"

"A teacher." Alison confessed, grinning when Beth looked at her with a surprised look. "Surprised?"

"Kind of." Beth confused, licking her lips and nodded.

"Yeah, most people usually are." Alison gave Beth a half smile before clearing her throat. "What about your parents?"

"Uh," Beth couldn't decide if she should tell Alison the truth or an out right lie. She went with the latter. "They're alright. Paying for a loft for me to live in with my best friend which is pretty cool."

"So you don't live with them?" Beth just shook her head in reply to that question. "Do you see them often?"

"Nah," Beth shrugged casually. "We were never really that close."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Beth shook her head, "Nah, it's fine." Beth give Alison a small smile before glancing down at her phone. "We should probably start heading back."

"Oh," Alison pulled back her sleeve to look down at her watch. "Yeah. Yeah, we should head back."

Beth sat money in the table and stood up, stretching her arms out in front of her before grabbing her bag and tilting her head towards the door. "You ready?"

Alison nodded, sliding out of the booth and following Beth out the diner.

"When is your play?" Beth asked, her hands gripping onto the straps on her bag.

"Two days before we stop for Christmas break."

"Which is when?"

"I think four weeks on Friday. So the play is four weeks tonight." A look akin to fear covered Alison's faces. "Oh, god."

"What?"

"Four weeks, that isn't long."

"Aren't you guys ready?" Beth asked with a confused frown.

"Yes, we are just perfecting little things now."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's just a little scary is all."

"You don't get stage fright, do you?"

"No," Alison scoffed. "Of course I don't get stage fright. I got worried, you know, for all the other performers."

"Right," Beth nodded, a knowing smile covering her lips.

"Ok, so _maybe_ I get a little nervous."

"A little nervous is good," Beth started, stopping by her bike, leaning back against it. "It gets your adrenaline going, helps you perform better."

"How do you know that?" Alison asked, crossing one arm over her chest, resting the elbow of her other arm on top of it.

Paul had told her before her first close combat class. "Biology class." She lied with a little shrug.

Alison nodded, accepting Beth's obvious lie. "I should get inside, Ansley and Charity are probably freaking out because I'm not there."

"They sound like a drag." Beth stated as she unclipped her helmet.

Alison nodded with a hum, glancing back towards the school.

"Why are you so worried about being seen with me?"

"I'm not." Alison said and Beth hoped she was a better liar than that. Alison seemed to realize Beth didn't believe her and sighed. "It's nothing personal."

"Really? 'Cause it kinda feels that way."

"It really isn't." Alison assured, the look on her face making Beth feel terrible for trying to guild-trip her. "I've just got a lot of stuff going on, I'm just tried to avoid excess hassle."

"I'm going to be at your house tomorrow, won't they know about that?"

"No. And if they do it doesn't matter, you're just tutoring me. They know I have trouble with math."

Beth frowned at the logic. "Is this about you not wanting them to tell your parents you're friends with some sort of grifter type or something else? Because you are 'secretly' friends with Delphine and Cosima."

"It's something else."

"Okay." Beth nodded, running her hand through her hair and pulling it to one side. "And I'm going to guess you don't wanna talk about it."

"Definitely not." Alison answered instantly, stiffly shaking her head.

"Okay, well, if you ever _do_ want to talk about it then we can. No judgment."

"Thank you."

"Sure. I have no doubt I will see you tomorrow since I'm in every single one of your classes."

"I know, if I didn't know any better I would've said you were stalking me." Alison teased and Beth grinned, throwing her leg over her bike.

"You wish that was what it was."

"Bye, Beth."

"Yeah. See you later." Beth smiled up at Alison, turning over her bike and holding her helmet in between her hands. She raised her eyebrows at Alison when the girl just stood there and watched her. "Are you going to keep standing there when I leave?"

"Oh, no, of course not." Alison quickly shook her, glancing back over her shoulder quickly and nodding, spinning on her heels and walking briskly into the school.

Beth smiled until Alison disappear then she let it drop off her lips. She pulled on her helmet and started off towards her house.

She hadn't expected Alison to be so nice, or nice at all, really. Not that that changed anything, this was a job, get the girl to trust you, she had to get close to her for that, didn't she? She would just have to figure out a way to keep her distance without seeming like she isn't interested.

She wasn't home for long before Sarah came back, looking around as she sat the pizza box on the table in front of Beth. "A loft. Nice. Could use a bigger bed, though."

"We will get one." Beth murmured, holding out one of her unopened beers.

"Nah, I'm workin' early tomorrow."

"And I have school tomorrow." Beth said with a chuckled, crossing her ankles on top of the table and taking a swig of her beer.

"Yeah, how's that goin'?" Sarah asked, setting the box on her lap.

"Fine. I'm tutoring her after school tomorrow." Beth gave a half-assed shrug, picking up a slice of pizza.

"You're skatin' on thin ice, Childs." Sarah huffed, chuckling as she shook her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, like i said today, for you to get her to fall in love with you you need to get close to her, right? I mean, what's stopping you from falling in love with her."

"Because I know. I know that it's just a job."

"Just because you know doesn't mean you wont start to like her."

Beth tutted, rolling her eyes at her best friends. "When did you become such a girl?"

Sarah just chuckled, rolling her eyes at Beth.

"How was work?"

"Yeah, it was good. I'm a surprisingly fast learner." Sarah nodded, taking a bite of her pizza. "I can't believe they let you back into school after when happened the last time. Sure, the guy one hundred perfect deserved it but you would've thought getting expelled would've warranted some questioning."

"Records were swiped."

Sarah hummed in acknowledgment, taking the remote from Beth's lap and began flicking through the channels.

Sarah disappeared into bed just after nine, obviously exhausted after working the full day but Beth never actually made it to the bed, falling asleep on the sofa during a three am run of the 70's show.


End file.
